Army to develop solar power at 3 Ga. forts

The U.S. Army is contracting with a utility to bring 30-megawatt solar arrays to Forts Stewart, Gordon and Benning in Georgia.

Georgia Power, a unit of Southern Co., will finance, design, build, own and operate the projects, it said in a Thursday statement. It will break ground later this year and start operations next year.

{mosads}“The project will be a platform for energy security and enable the U.S. Army to increase energy security and sustainability at all three installations,” Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for energy and environment, said in a statement.

Once the solar arrays are complete, 18 percent of the Army’s energy at Georgia installations will come from on-site renewable sources, the Army said. They will be the largest solar installations in the Army.

A 2007 law requires the Army to get a quarter of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025. President Obama has also challenged the Army to deploy a gigawatt of renewable energy in that same timeframe.